“Dumpster Diving” in South Korea
Walking into Sue’s one-room apartment, you may for a second think you’ve stepped into a boutique second-hand furniture shop. It’s about the same size, it has a lovely selection of furnishings and decorations, and a laptop and kitchen sink are not uncommon finds in little Korean stores along a “high street”. Like a second-hand goods dealer, Sue has spent some time collecting only the best of items, to make her home as beautiful and cozy as it is. Yet many of the things in Sue’s “collection” are plucked from the side of the road (where they have been discarded next to the rubbish bins) before they can be carted off by the municipal waste-removal. In essence, Sue is a “dumpster diver”!
Sue inspecting an unusual find.
Sue, a fellow expatriate who has lived in Korea for eight years, laughs at the title. It’s not very accurate, since there are no actual dumpsters in Korean residential areas. She never set out to find furniture and she certainly doesn’t rummage through the trash. A more apt title might be Early Sunday Morning Stroller… who gets the best pickings.
There really is only rubbish to find if you search midday, midweek.
It was on a Sunday morning stroll that Sue first noticed a lot of furniture in perfectly good condition, sitting out with the rest of the trash. Almost every week there would be a pile of things at one of the many bin sites around the neighborhood, and more often than not there would be at least one item among them that would sell for a decent price in any second-hand furniture store (here or back home). She knew that the second hand stores here could be a little pricey, so she couldn’t believe the stuff was just being thrown out. She has even found beautiful glazed vases without even a hint of a scratch or chip.
The table, mirror, ornament, and both vases were all found at bin sites. Both vases are in perfect condition.
When she asked her Korean friends about it some of them said that when an old person dies their belongings are discarded because to keep them would bring bad luck. The items are considered to be tainted with the aura of the dead. Traditionally the deceased’s belongings (especially their clothes and personal items such as a pocket album or diary) were burnt as a way of sending their earthly possessions with them. These days not all families continue this tradition, and sometimes the goods are distributed among the relatives. Any item that is not wanted, simply gets chucked out. However, many of the items are in good functional condition, and because they often come from elderly owners, there are pieces that are practically antiques and most certainly cannot be purchased at Homeplus, on GMarket, or any other modern store.
With Halloween being Sue’s favorite holiday, she kind of liked the story of her finds being possibly haunted, but she knows it’s more of an old wives’ tale:
“The best picks are often at the end of the month when people move apartments and chuck out their ‘old’ stuff to get new things for their new space. So I know it’s not just from people who have died.”
You may just want to check out your local bin site this weekend then!